Who Decides What's For The Best?
by BlackFanatic
Summary: *Sequel to "Grace and Beauty"* Accepting Jacob Black as her other half will turn Grace Swan's life upside down, how far will she go to right it?
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is the sequel to my first story, Grace and Beauty . Also I am not Stephanie Meyer and I do not own any part of the Twilight series. GO TEAM JACOB! PLEASE REVIEW! (Also if anyone has written or read a Jacob story the liked please recommend it so I can read it!)

--

Since Jacob Black had accepted the fact that he had imprinted, not on Bella, but on her twin sister Grace, and given himself over to the all consuming love he felt for her he's been living in a haze of ecstasy. His wolf "brothers" had to drag him from her when it was his turn to guard the La Push boundary. And he found his fear for he safety abated, because where could she be safer, than in his arms?

As for Gracie, it seemed as though she had forgotten all about her life as Prima Ballerina back in NYC. As well as her opposition to her sister's impending nuptials to a member of the undead. She only had eyes for Jacob, her Jacob. Whose currently in the garage working on his car, again, 'i think it's high time he took a break' she thought as she snuck out to surprise him.

The minute she stepped through the garage door, Jacob moved like lightening and pinned her against the wall with her hands pinned above her head.

"You shouldn't try to surprise someone who A) has heightened animal senses, and B) is in tune with every nerve in your body." Jacob whispered as his lips grazed her collarbone.

"Maybe this was my plan all along, you know how I like it when you take control." Grace breathed back as she brought her legs up and wrapped them around his waist.

Jacob let go off her hands, and moved his to grasp her waist. and continued to kiss along her neck and jawbone. Her breath caught in her throat as she tangled her finger's in his hair. Finally his lips were on hers, and it was like she they were drowning, and they were each other's oxygen source. Jacob finally broke the kiss to lift her tank top over her head.

"Jacob...Billy?"

"You're just going to have to be quiet, Love."

"Jake you know I am incapable of doing that."

"Wait what day is it?"

"Sunday"

"We're totally safe, he's fishing."

"Oh thank god."

Jacob took that as cue to resume, and immediately took her nipple into his mouth and gently bit it, this drove her wild as he knew it would. Jacob was already shirtless, as always, but Gracie reached down and in one fluid motion removed his belt from his khaki shorts.

"Jacob, please..."

Jake gently laid her down on a blanket on the floor from their last garage encounter. He unbuttoned her shorts, as she undid his and in the blink of an eye, they were both completely naked. He kissed his way down her body and was almost to his destination when she stopped him.

"There's no time for that, you're driving me crazy, I need you inside of me, now, please Jake"

He loved the way she pleaded with him, like if she couldn't have him she'd die. After he'd initially imprinted she'd shown so much resistance, he thought she'd never need him back, like he needed her. But she had. And though they fought so hard you'd think they were going to get violent, so how it always ended just like this with her in his arms, asking him to make her his, soul and body.

He moved back up her body and kissed her, pulled back and looked into her eyes.

"You're my reason for living, you know that."

"I do, and right now i feel like if you don't give yourself to me, I will literally die!"

Jacob grinned, "So dramatic."

And in one fluid moment, they were one. The best part about Jacob and Gracie was nothing was routine. Somedays were rough and some were gentle, in all aspects, their relationship was ever morphing. For all their differences, they were however in sync. From their heartbeats, to the height that they were about to reach, together.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Grace awoke to find herself alone in bed. A note on Jacob's pillow read, "On pack duty, be home late. Stay safe. I love you. Jake." In an instant Grace went from being excited about her day to being plunged into despair. in the month she'd been living at Jacob's house, she'd found herself stuck on an emotional rollercoaster with no end in sight. On days when Jacob could be home with her she was in heaven. She was perfectly content at his side, whether it was watching him work on his car, having dinner with the pack, or just laying in bed. She'd never felt so complete with anyone, not even Bella.

But on days when Jake had guard the boundary she felt herself going crazy. A day alone at La Push offered very little in the way of entertainment. There was no where for her to dance, and they didn't want her alone on the beach. It was during these times that she had to ask herself what the hell she was doing here. She had a life in NYC, a career; well she had a career until she stopped taking her company director's calls. Of course with that career came a price, a different kind of loneliness, no family, her only 'friends' other ballet dancers who were really vying for her spot as lead dancer in the company. Why couldn't she have both? Her career and a family?

Well one thing was for sure she couldn't spend another day tip toeing around Billy. She quickly dressed and called her sister to take her to the Cullen compound. While she had no interest in listening to Alice plan her sister's fairy tale wedding to Dracula. They had wide open wood floors she could dance on, and it was only the place Jacob would allow her to go without him. Ugh since when did she need anyone's permission to do anything?!

She went outside to inform whomever was on guard duty that Bella and Edward were coming to collect her and then walked to the boundary, the whole time feeling annoyed by the wolf she knew would be tailing her on Jacob's order.


	3. Chapter 3

As annoyed as she felt, Grace still insisted on being taken back to La Push long before she knew Jacob would be home. She liked to be home when he got there. He always looked at her with this expression of utter relief and happiness. The first she thing did when she got back home was to hop in the shower. Even though she knew Jacob would be hot and sweaty when he got back, and that they'd inevitably get hot and sweaty together, she could not bring herself to wait in her gross dance clothes.

The instant she felt the hot water on her back she began to relax. The knowledge that Jacob would soon be home made the whole world seem better She was washing her hair when she heard a noise. It was much too early for Jake to be home, plus he always liked to make a nice loud entrance. Billy always announced himself for fear that he'd catch them in an intimate situation. She felt herself tense, and waited. She heard nothing, 'I'm being silly, all these silly restrictions are making me paranoid, there's no one here but me and I probably just imagined that noise." With that she went back to allowing the steaming hot water relax her knotted muscles. Suddenly she felt hands on her waist, and she screamed with all the volume she could muster.

"BABY! BABY! It's just me, calm down, calm down, stop screaming, It's me, It's Jake."

Grace had swung around prepared to fight for her life, only to be faced with the one charged with protecting it. At the sight of Jacob, Grace felt herself crumble to the shower floor and sob. At the same time Sam, Quil, and Embry came bursting through the door.

"Jake, we heard screams"

"is it Victoria?"

" is Grace alright?" All three of the young werewolves were shouting over one and other.

"No it was just me, I tried to surprise her, and instead scared the living daylights out of her." Suddenly Jake seemed to realize that grace was still on the floor crying, totally naked. He grabbed a towel and scooped her up.

Turning to face his brother's, he said with some force. "Now could you please, kindly, get the hell out!"

Realizing that they had clearly seen somethings they weren't supposed to Sam turned and left, with Quil and Embry mumbling apologies as they stumbled after him.

Jacob carried Grace into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed and began to rock her.

"Baby, I'm sorry, but please you need to calm down, you're really scaring me."

Finally Grace seemed to regain some composure. She stood up, wrapped the towel around herself and stepped away from him, "Scaring you? I've been living in constant fear for the past month. peeking around every corner, locking every door, and it strikes you as a good idea to sneak up on me in the shower? What were you thinking?"

"I know, it was dumb. I just heard you in the shower, and it seemed like a golden opportunity. I'm sorry. Come here." He reached out and grabbed her hips playfully tugging her towards him. "Forgive me?"

Grace bowed her head, "I'm just not sure how much longer I can handle this."

"We'll catch her soon baby, and then things will mellow out, everything will be alright."

as she turned and went back into the bathroom to get dressed, she realized Jacob didn't understand what she meant at all. She knew she'd hurt his feelings by walking away from him like that. It was just the idea of living forever with Jacob seemed like a dream come true, but the idea of living forever in Forks, at La Push was making her sick to her stomach.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days later it was Jacob's turn to patrol, but before he left in the morning he wanted to make sure Grace understood how much he loved her and that with him,she'd always be safe. So they made love, and he whispered in her ear all these things he knew to be true. When he got up and left, she rolled away from him, he assumed to go back to sleep, when really it was to hide the sobs that now racked her body.

--

That night Jacob came home to a silent house, and knew instantly that something was wrong. He entered his bedroom to find that Grace and everything she owned was gone. He called Bella and without explaining told her to bring the entire Cullen family to the meadow. He phased and sent the same message to his brother's. He reached the field first , followed quickly by the others.

"Jake, what's the matter? Is Grace alright? where is she?" Bella asked with panic in her voice that mustered that of Jacob's when he'd called her.

"I was going to ask you the same thing, she's gone."

"Gone, gone where? Oh god Victoria!"

"No I don't think so all her clothes are gone and I couldn't smell Victoria at the house. As much as I hate to admit it, I think she left on her own, but god dammit, why?"

"Because she's been unhappy Jake."

"What are you talking about? I know she's been freaked with all these safety precautions, but since we've been together we've been ecstatic."

"Exactly, When you're together. But when you leave she becomes a whole different person, depressed, distant, withdrawn. She misses dancing, and New york. Grace left small town life behind for a reason."

"Well whatever the reason, she's not safe while Victoria lives, so we have to find her. Tell your psychic leech to keep a lookout, she can see her now that she's not with me, right? And we need to form search parties. If something happens to her...:

"Jake don't worry, we'll find her, we'll search until we do."


	5. Chapter 5

And search they did, for months. They went to New York and talked to everyone from her old life, but no one had seen her. They searched all major cities, anywhere with a ballet company, but the trail was ice cold. Alice looked, but saw no sign of where Grace could be. A failure she found endlessly frustrating. After a month the two tribes where able to kill Victoria. With the threat defeated Jacob's brothers seemed to think that if Grace had left on her own accord, she should be left alone. Jacob however refused to give up, and spent much of his time scouring the globe for his other half. After 5 months however Billy grew Ill and Jacob came home to care for him until he passed away. This was the final straw for Jake. Having to attend his father's funeral alone broke his spirit and he just stopped looking.

--

Six months had passed and Bella and Alice were having the same argument they'd been having since Grace disappeared.

"Bella be reasonable, how long are you going to wait?"

"We are not going to have this discussion Alice, I am not getting married without my sister and that's final. So if you want to plan this wedding you better start having visions of wherever the hell she is!"

When Bella turned to face what she knew would be a crestfallen Alice she was greeted by a very different sight. Eyes glazed over, cut off from the world, Alice was indeed seeing something. Suddenly she snapped back to reality.

Looking up at Bella she spoke, "I know where Grace is."

"What? Where?"

"She's in Boulder General Hospital in Colorado."

"Oh my god, what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know, should I call the pack?"

"No, not yet. Grace had a reason for leaving, and a reason for not telling anyone. I think I should go find out what it is. I don't want to get Jake's hopes up, if she's going to let him down again. How fast can you get me to Colorado?"

With a big grin Alice replied, "Fast."


	6. Chapter 6

Bella hated hospitals. It took all the courage she could muster to walk through the doors of Boulder General. Plus she had no idea how to find her sister, since she figured she probably wasn't going by Grace Swan or she would have been a heck of a lot easier to find. She had been hoping Alice would have seen more to provide her with some answers, but after that one vision she disappeared again. She'd barely gotten to the admissions desk however when a nurse accosted her.

"Miss Black, What are you doing out of bed?"

'Black?' Bella found herself having to quickly recover from that bomb.

"Um, no I'm Miss Black's twin. I'm here to visit her, how is she?

"O she's fine, she did very well, probably would have been a comfort for her if you'd been here a little earlier, but oh well, you're here now. Ah and here's her room. Congratulations"

Bella found herself more than confused as she entered the hospital room, but relief washed away her questions when she saw her twin sitting up in bed eating applesauce, looking healthy, if a little tired. Grace looked up at the sound of her sister's entrance.

"Bella? How'd you find me?"

"Alice, she's been watching for you in her visions ever since you left and we finally caught a break. Where have you been? Why are you in the hospital?"

As if in response to her question a cry emitted from the plastic hospital basinet situated next to Grace's bed, which Bella had failed to notice before. Grace reached down and picked up an infant who had russet skin, brown eyes, and black hair.

"Bella I want you to meet William Charles Black, your nephew."

"You had a baby, Jacob's baby?!"

"Yes."

"Is this why you left?"

"Yes."

"You're going to have to give me some better answers than that."

"After Jacob scared me that day in the shower, it was like I was couldn't calm down, I couldn't escape the fear."

"A few days later when I'd missed my period for the second month in a row, I couldn't put it off any longer. So when Jake had to patrol, I managed to shake off Quil when he fell asleep on watch in front of the house. When the doctor told me I was pregnant, I freaked. I was already 3 months along and I got to hear his heartbeat. All I could thin about were the dangers, Victoria is so brutal, she was coming after you, and everyone seemed so worried about what would happen if she found out about me, what could she do to Will? Plus I know how hard it is for Jake being a wolf and I didn't want that for my child, so I left. I came to Boulder because it reminded me of Forks. I told people my name was Grace Black. I got job teaching ballet to preschoolers at a little studio, and kept my head down."

"Grace, Victoria's dead. They got her just a few weeks after you left. You should know Billy's dead too. He had a stroke and passed in his sleep."

"My Jacob..."

"I can't keep this from him, I won't. He's been searching everywhere for you. You need to come home and face him. William is his son too."

"I know you're right, I love him I do. you have to understand I was only trying to protect my son, I never meant to hurt anyone."

"You may not have meant to, but you do. Jake's wounds are deep, and it won't be easy to mend them."

--


	7. Chapter 7

He could feel her coming even before his wolf ears heard the car pulling down the road. His whole body strained to run to her, to give her everything he had, but at the same time he was angry he thought he might not be able to contain it. Finally he forced himself to get up and walk out the front door. She was standing by what he immediately recognized as Edward's Volvo (He felt his anger level rising as he knew that she hadn't first come home to him.) She was looking down at the ground shifting uncomfortably, if he hadn't been known it in his heart, he might have thought this was in fact Bella, come to check on him, again.

"Well look who finally decided to show up."

"Jacob I'm so..."

"DON'T" Jacob took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, "Don't apologize to me. You left me. Apparently because you were in a downward spiral of despair, which everyone but me knew about. You didn't leave a note, didn't call, gave me no sign that you were alright or even alive. Nothing you can say can make what you've done okay."

With this Jacob turned to walk back into his house and slam the door.

"Jacob, we have a son."

Jacob felt his breath catch in his chest and he turned to look at her with disbelief in his eyes.

"He's the reason I left. You didn't know I was depressed because I wasn't, as long as you were with me. But the minute you left me, all I could think about was the freedom and independence that was the cornerstone of my existence was gone. I felt like a prisoner here."

Jacob could feel the rage building inside him, "Everything I did, I did to protect you. I loved you."

The past tense hit Grace like a mack truck. Loved. Still she tried to explain, "I know you were trying to protect me, and I was trying to protect my son, our son. I knew for certain he would become the target if Victoria were to find out he existed. By leaving I took him out of the equation and out of danger, I knew that if you and Bella knew that you'd follow, and so would she. More than that, I thought if I left he'd never have to know the pain and anger that you do. That if we were far enough away he would never become aware of the wolf inside of him. I know now that we can't escape it, that what I did was wrong."

Grace was unable to hold her composure any longer. She felt the tears in her eyes and she fell to her knees, exhausted by trying to explain her actions, as if it could make what she did better.

"Please, you have to forgive me, you need to forgive me. I. Can't. Be. Without. You."

She felt him pull her to her feet, but still he held her away from himself. He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his calloused hands and sighed deeply.

"Grace?"

"Jake?" she managed to hiccup.

"Our son, what is his name."

She looked into his eyes and he was smiling. Breaking the gap between them she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. In a blur of movement she suddenly found herself beneath him on his bed. She looked deep into his eyes, "William Charles Black." And then they fit together like puzzle pieces that had never been broken apart.


End file.
